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 Reacting to EU demands that Turkey change its laws to grant wider
protection to migrants and to criticism of his crackdown on media
freedom and domestic opponents, Erdogan said Europe was "dancing in
a minefield" by directly or indirectly supporting terrorist groups.
Europeans needed to look at their own record on migrants before
telling Turkey what to do, he said, adding that Ankara would only
listen to EU criticism on rights when it was correct.
"At a time when Turkey is hosting three million, those who are
unable to find space for a handful of refugees, who in the middle of
Europe keep these innocents in shameful conditions, must first look
at themselves," Erdogan said in a speech broadcast on television.
His combative tone contrasted with optimistic comments by Prime
Minister Ahmet Davutoglu when he arrived for talks with EU officials
on a package of political and financial rewards which EU leaders
agreed on Thursday in return for Turkey's willingness to take back
all illegal migrants who cross into Europe.
The EU conditions fell short of Turkey's demands for more money,
faster visa-free travel for Turks in Europe and an acceleration of
Ankara's long-stalled EU membership talks.
 After more than a million people fleeing war and poverty in the
Middle East and beyond poured into Europe last year, most ending up
in Germany, the EU is desperate to stem the flow but faces legal
objections to blanket returns of migrants to Turkey.
Hence the EU leaders are insisting that Turkey legislate to extend
international standards of protection to non-Syrian migrants, a
condition for Greece to be able legally to return asylum seekers.
After Davutoglu held a two-hour meeting with Dutch Prime Minister
Mark Rutte, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, and top
EU officials the talks were suspended to allow for work on technical
details.
"Of course the EU and Turkey have the same goal, the same objective
to help Syrian refugees... I am sure ... we will be achieving our
goal," Davutoglu told reporters before the talks.
All 28 EU leaders were due to meet the Turkish premier over lunch to
conclude a deal, but officials warned that could slip.
NO GUARANTEED HAPPY END
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who devised the outlines of the
plan with Davutoglu 10 days ago, and French President Francois
Hollande both expressed caution on Thursday about the chances for an
agreement.
"I can't guarantee you a happy ending," Hollande told reporters.
A senior Turkish official told Reuters that Davutoglu would press
the EU to open up new areas of negotiation on its long-stalled bid
to join the bloc, despite a veto threat by Cyprus.
The summit discussions exposed considerable doubts among member
states and within EU institutions over whether a deal could be made
either legal under international law or workable.
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EU leaders have given negotiators a mandate to conclude an accord
whereby Turkey would take back all migrants who reach Greek islands
from its coast. In return the EU would take in thousands of Syrian
refugees directly from Turkey.
Much of the debate, Merkel said, focused on ensuring that a plan
that has outraged human rights groups could guarantee that those
returned to Turkey would receive protection.
Turkey's human rights record has drawn growing criticism amid a
crackdown on Kurdish separatists, arrests of critical journalists
and the seizure of its best-selling newspaper.
A major problem is Turkey's four-decade-old dispute with EU member
Cyprus, whose President Nicos Anastasiades insisted there could be
no opening of new "chapters" in Turkey's EU membership talks until
Ankara allows Cypriot traffic to its sea and airports - a result of
a refusal to recognize the Cypriot state.
There is anger in Nicosia at Merkel for appearing to make Davutoglu
an offer last week without having consulted Cyprus at a time when
talks on reunification with the Turkish-backed north of the island
are at a delicately hopeful stage.
EU officials said Greece also needed time to set up legal and
administrative structures to carry out the deportations and grant
migrants individual asylum and appeal hearings.
Ankara's central objective - visa-free travel for Turks to Europe by
June - will depend on Turkey meeting a raft of long-standing EU
criteria. With French voters alarmed at the idea of nearly 79
million Muslim Turks free to travel, Hollande stressed the need to
fulfill all 72 prior conditions.
Merkel said leaders had agreed no date to start the scheme but
diplomats said the aim was to set a March 20 cut-off date after
which anyone arriving in Greece would eventually be sent back.
(Additional reporting by Renee Maltezou, Robin Emmott, Paul Taylor,
Gabriela Baczynska, Julia Fioretti, Jan Strupczewski and Elizabeth
Pineau in Brussels; writing by Robin Emmott and Paul Taylor; Editing
by Gareth Jones)
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